UNIVERSITIES' TECHNOLOGY FEE MAY USHER IN CAP

State universities finally may get the technology fee they have been seeking to pay for computers and other equipment.

But it may come with a catch _ new restrictions on student fees other than tuition.

A proposed bill discussed on Wednesday in the House Colleges and Universities Committee allows a technology fee but caps total fees at 55 percent of tuition. The bill also spells out what fees universities can and cannot charge.

Currently, the 14-member Board of Regents, which oversees the state's 10 public universities, decides what fees can be charged.

The fees _ for athletics, health and other services _ are charged on top of the cost of matriculation, which is $527 per semester.

The proposed bill also lets community colleges charge a technology fee but caps their total fees at 35 percent of tuition.

Rep. John Rayson, D-Pompano Beach, and others voiced concerns about the amount of money students are paying in fees, and whether the fees are a way of avoiding higher tuition. Rayson suggested eliminating fees and adding the cost to tuition so the total cost would be clear.

"It seems to me that it takes a Philadelphia lawyer to figure out all these things," he said.

Of Florida's public universities, only Florida Gulf Coast in Fort Myers would be able to charge the requested technology fee of $50 per semester. The other schools are too close to the 55 percent cap and would have to charge less than the $50 or reduce existing fees.

At Florida Atlantic University, students pay $282 in fees per semester, or 53.5 percent of tuition.

Florida International University students pay $305.08, or 57.9 percent of tuition.

Rep. Bob Casey, R-Gainesville, chairman of the committee, said the proposed bill would allow the Legislature to rein in fees in the face of growing costs from the state's popular Bright Futures scholarships. The scholarship program, begun last year, pays at least 75 percent of tuition and fees for students who meet certain requirements.

"This is one way the state would specify, rather than the Board of Regents, what those fees would be and where they would be capped," Casey said.

Casey said his staff would tinker with the bill. He expects the committee to vote on the bill next week.

Regents Chairman Steve Uhlfelder and state University System Chancellor Adam Herbert had not reviewed the proposal as of late Wednesday.